


Conform or Die

by OfDarkMind



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Gen, OC, Resident Evil 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-26
Updated: 2013-12-26
Packaged: 2018-01-06 05:51:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1103164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfDarkMind/pseuds/OfDarkMind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wesker has Damon Salazar Rodriguez, son of a prominent Los Illuminados figure from Spain, in his clutches. Lies and threats forces Lee Chen to adhere to the destruction of the young life to which he cares for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Conform or Die

His little cheeks quivered as he looked at the screen, everything fully exposed for his eyes to see on the security cam. His mother was on the floor in some random hallway. Damon supposed it was here in this facility. He could see two bodies in a hall, lying on the floor quite plainly dead. A man, a small man that had been with him and his mother before he fell ill, lay on his side, his arm twined with his mothers, a single bullet wound to the temple and his blood was all over the floor; his name is Ramon Salazar. His mother, who was on her stomach, nude again… what happened while he was in stasis? What had she and this man done that they deserved this? They were promised that they would be taken care of. His mom, his… father… and he were put into hyperbolic chambers to heal as they were fed intravenously. This was a measure to protect and strengthen them. Why is it his mother and… why are they dead?   
Damon’s eyes watered. He loved his mother… she promised she would never leave him alone… and even after a measure he was sad for Ramon, because he did seem to care about it. A bit moody and quite crazy in others, he still looked after him and his mother. Ramon… Damon took him to be a sickly kid when he first seen him… was the one who had suggested they go back to Umbrella… Look for Dr. Chen. Beg to be taken back in; somehow believing they would be treated fairly. He really thought that his position of power would win stature in Umbrella. Damon wasn’t very old… he was only two… really… but the company had done things to him that he can’t even explain to speed up his growth acceleration. He has the body of a ten year old and a bit higher on the scale when it came to personality and intelligence.   
Maybe this is why he has moments or red. Where he has so much rage and strength he cannot contain himself. Maybe if that man… Ramon… really is his father that is where he got his temper. But his mother insisted that the man she was with, who was only an inch or so taller than himself, was his father. That’s unbelievable. How can he be his father? This man, who also had a name that was a slight variation of his own, would look at him with the strangest expression sometimes. Sometimes he looked confused, happy, sad, and afraid and when those sometimes very cold hands touched his skin, they’d be shaking. He would see his mother survey this with a glowing smile but seriously, Damon felt his mother was seriously confused. There is no way…   
“This is not something you wish to see. But it is prudent you be shown now and allow yourself to deal with it. It really is unfortunate. We took you back in and this is how our kindness is appreciated?” Wesker said from the dark corner, watching the young boy’s shoulder’s shake. Damon felt hot tears streaking his face as he looked up at the LCD screen. The red of their blood was tinted blue.   
“What happened? What did they do so wrong you had to kill my mother and… father?” Damon asked thickly through tears as he turned his little head to Wesker.   
“They tried to steal from the company for personal gain. We do not tolerate theft. Especially of that which they took. We deal with things like this very swiftly and with much retribution.” Wesker approached the boy, staying at least arm’s length away.   
“My mother would never steal. That looks like a set up to me.” Damon said, his small hands balling into fists on the console as the screen display flicked to another view… this one was right on her face. Bloodied… bruised… even in the blue hue of the screen Damon could tell it was her and… his father had been shot in the head. The blue tint didn’t hide the whole in his temple. On the floor, just an inch away from her outstretched fingers, was a case on the floor with a biohazard sign on the heavy metal.   
“That picture speaks louder than your proclamation. I am not here to debate with you. Your parents are dead. They had been killed by the automatic turrets rigged in the facility as a precaution when someone infiltrates or does something to… displease us, from inside.” Wesker pushed the button nearest Damon’s left hand and it showed another view of them. This time Damon turned his head away.  
“Let this be a warning. We have agreed to take you in even though you and your parents have caused irregularities in our strict organization. If you attempt to do the same, that-‘Wesker didn’t even need to point at the screen to point out his intention. “… will happen to you.”   
Damon was looking up at the cold and impassive face. Damon felt much stronger than he looked, but seeing his mother dead like that was killing him and this man couldn’t even have the decency to be just a little understanding or sympathetic. Damon knew better than to expect the same courtesy from Wesker that he and his mother got from Dr. Chen.   
“I still don’t believe you. You think I am a fool but I am not. How do I know you just didn’t kill her and place her like that to make it look like she was stealing something from you?” Damon asked angrily.  
Wesker didn’t budge.   
“If you want proof that your mother was a thief and was helping your father in the attempt, I must disappoint. They had been planning this for some time apparently. They nearly got away but…’ Wesker reached and grabbed Damon by his upper arm and started none too gently pulling him toward the exit.  
“We stopped them. You should be thankful they were killed. Because if they hadn’t been and they got out… you… would be dead. ”Wesker said unconcernedly as he led the boy out of the room. Before they cleared the door, Damon looked over his shoulder and at the screen, taking one more quick look at his mother before he never seen her again. Once she was out of sight, Damon looked down the hall and there was a familiar man standing there looking down at him with dark almond eyes.  
“If they had gotten out, then there is a relative chance the facility would have been invaded and all of our possessions destroyed and that includes you. Now you are all we have left of your line and it is more imperative now that we do not lose the last piece of the Spain research left to us. If you want to live under our protection you will have to conform and contribute.” Wesker pushed Damon toward Dr. Chen, who had a hand outstretched. Damon willingly went to Chen, more because he liked him, beside his mother and the man who he supposed he ought to get used to saying it; his father, Chen was the only one ever nice to him. Damon reached out and grabbed Chen’s hand and before he turned, Wesker had already turned and walked away. His boot heel could be seen taking the corner.   
Damon, now that Wesker had walked away, turned his head and pressed his face into Chen’s gut and cried as he clutched at the white lab coat. Chen knew Wesker would likely be monitoring the both of them so he was scarcely able to react the way he really wished to react to the boy who wanted nothing more than to be held while he grieved for his mother.   
“My mother really isn’t dead, is she?” Damon asked from within the folds of Chen’s coat. Chen swallowed and looked down as he stroked at Damon’s head. His dark brown hair shod with a white patch sliding under his palm smoothly. The solution the others had put the three in tended to do that. Damon’s mother and father’s hair was like that when they were removed from their tanks and cloned. Of course, Chen knew the bodies on the screen weren’t Damon’s parents…but he cannot know that or if he finds out, Chen can’t be the one to tell him.  
Damon’s clothing… the suit he wore… was a tell tale means for Wesker to say ‘reel him in’ so to speak. This means that Chen is or will be forced to brain wash him. Make him into a cooperate monster. Not like the BOWS. But like Wesker himself… all the higher-ups.   
Chen just wished it wasn’t him who had to do it. There are much more qualified personnel here that can handle the task. He can do it too but he didn’t want too. And let’s face it… it wasn’t like he could refuse to do it.  
He suspected that Wesker made him do it for his own purposes. Likely because he knows that Chen does in fact care for the three even though he tries to hide it. Wesker knows that the Salazar family has pretty much trusted him and that is what gave him the unfortunate edge over anyone else. A part of Chen also knew not so deep down that Wesker was probably doing it because he knew Chen cares for them. Probably testing his loyalty to the company.   
One thing was absolutely certain. Chen would not make the company turn on him. He would never be able to protect those whom were under his care. Every one of their existences are wretched on a good day… He could not make them promises of getting better or being set free. They knew and understood that. All he could really do was use his inherent sweetness and gentleness to comfort them, even if marginally. He looked down on Damon’s head. The suit he wore was a perfect fit… it was like it was tailor made for him.   
‘What is he now, Wesker? A pet? A protégé? Why don’t you just make a monster for yourself instead of destroying an innocent boys life to your twisted whims?”   
“I am afraid she is. Both of them are.” Chen looked down into those large and wet eyes that were so stoned by grief. Grief… it is a hard element of life that stings and bites; leaves you cold… but the element is most unkind to children who cannot grasp the concept of forever gone and the reasons for it. Chen hated to have to lie to that little face he had cared for and know he was going to have to turn this boy into what he plainly is not. Chen tried like hell to say he was sorry, perhaps Damon seen it in the depths of his eyes, for the boy had buried his face into Chen’s lab coat again and started sobbing.   
“I must get you to your room. I will take care of you for a while Damon.” Chen said almost mechanically. Damon allowed himself to be steered in the direction where Chen led him. He trusted this man… loved him even after a fashion. But he could not understand… and perhaps it was something deep inside him equally as unknown, but something made Damon have the suspicion that the doctor was lying to him… along with Wesker.   
Damon knew never to trust a word from Wesker, but Chen is going along with it… why?   
There was a slight movement as they walked and Damon brought his eyes up from his shoes, watching them through blurry eyes as he walked. As he lifted his eyes to Chen, a picture was put in front of his face. It was his parents… or… at least actually confirmed, his mother… and Ramon Salazar.   
“Keep this with you. Your mother and father gave this to me to give to you.” Chen was saying in a manner that gave Damon the idea that he wasn’t to show anyone else. He shoved it in his jacket pocket.  
“Yes… how do we know that man is my father?” Damon asked. Chen looked at him surprised.  
“Well positive DNA test results categorize him as your biological father. There are some minor discrepancies that may have to do with the parasite he wielded when you were conceived but it does actually look like it is he who sired you.” Chen said. He didn’t need to take into account that Damon was a child. Damon was far more intellectually superior as opposed to other children in his age range.   
“That and… quite frankly you bare some resemblance to him too.” Chen was taken aback by the slight twitch of Damon’s cheek, like it irritated him to be told he looked like his father. Well, most kids don’t want to be told they look like their parents, its only usually when they get older do they either accept it or like the fact that they have aspects of their parent’s images in their own.   
“Discrepancies? What sort of discrepancies?” Damon asked. His question was pointed, like he wanted a reason to think those flaws in the test were the clincher to prove that Ramon Salazar was not his father.  
“Minor ones… nothing that would really alter the proof. Like I said. Whether you like hearing it or not, you do bare some resemblance to your father. The flaws had to do with the parasite. Nothing more.” Chen said.  
“I refuse… to believe he was my father.” Damon said and stopped walking. Chen took a few more faltered steps and looked back at him. “I know she is my mother… but I think… she was overcome by that man. Like he forced her to love him… or forced her to say I am his by that parasite he has.” Damon for the first time really to Chen, seemed capable of irrational and limited thought, like a child his age.   
“It seems accurate that you may not believe me telling you that he is your father but hearing you say you don’t trust your mother is a little confusing.” Chen said carefully. Chen really had nothing to worry about even though he was well aware of what Damon was capable of. The only way Damon really had power was if the one nearest him had a plaga he can control… and aside from normal health issues here and there, Chen was not infected with anything.   
“I can trust my mother. Its just… with that man around us, the one everyone seems to adamant about calling my father, he could have been controlling her. I knew he had a plaga in him.”  
“He had a Plaga. But that man on the screen in the hall did not. He could no more control your mother than control you. What is this mistrust, Damon? You have always trusted me.” This was Chen really… this wasn’t him trying to win the boy to stay on his good side for the job ahead. Damon was asking all the right questions that would and could potentially lead to the truth of the real fate of his parents.  
“Then he wasn’t my father!” Damon said furiously and with a slight edge of elation which irritated Chen.  
“Oh I assure you he was your father. He may not have been the original vessel… but he maintained everything from your father, who died in Spain 2 years ago. You know this. You have been told this. We gave him back to you. Your father! Not every little boy who has lost a parent is so lucky.” Chen said.  
“He is NOT MY FATHER! There is no way you can convince me otherwise. That thing is not my father by right! I know what happened over there in Spain… I know because my mother told me! My father is dead and has been for 2 years! That thing is not my father!”   
“He is! One day you will come to acceptance of this fact. You are acting much like him you know… and how is it you can trust your mother about everything else she has told you but not about your father?” Chen asked with a raised brow. Damon looked back at him defiantly.  
“The discrepancies… I want to see them. There must be an answer in there.”   
“And the answer on paper will yield no more an epiphany to you than what I have just told you. I am sorry, Damon… but I know you are angry and looking for a way to gain justice and answers. But I have none to give that will assuage your grief. That man on the screen, Ramon Salazar… is your father. And he and your mother are now gone and this anger is understandable.”   
Damon stopped arguing for a moment. He did not want to fight with Chen… this man was the only one left that was likely to treat him well.   
“Wesker said that they tried to steal something from the facility. What was it they tried to steal and for what purpose?” Damon asked.  
“We can discuss this another time, Damon.” Chen said. He wasn’t exactly ready to tell the entire lie now…   
“No now! I want answers… and I will get them.” Damon asked, his normally childlike voice low with intimidation. He was quite frightening in one aspect. You only ever really see that expression on the face of a deranged adult. But Chen knew what Damon was doing and also knew it wouldn’t work. Chen smiled a little.  
“You forget… you cannot control me.” Chen said and now he was angry. “Grief makes a person do and say some things that aren’t usually characteristic of them. But this… you trying to control me is unthinkable and unreasonable. It won’t work. I don’t have a Plaga in me and you cannot bend me to your will.” Chen felt a spasm of fear hit him. Maybe because he knew what Damon’s father was capable of, not by the Plaga… but his mental instability. Damon was already displaying some sort of unhinged personality under the upper most layer of misery. A perfect feed for his madness.   
“Perhaps one day I will.” Damon said simply, obstinately. Chen licked his lips and sighed. He held out his hand for Damon to take it. There were still a fair bit of tears coming from the boys eyes but did the sight of his dead mother crack him? It wasn’t his father, by all appearance; he is embarrassed to be associated with Ramon. Chen wanted to believe the disassociation with his father stems from the terrible things he had done in Spain… but he knew that wasn’t it. Damon had been told that his father was a powerful man. A wonderful man… deceived… but loving and beautiful and it was something Damon had clung too; Catalina’s idea and memory of her lover and his father. To which her knowledge is Ramon had been deceived and started to turn into a monster but she had tried to save him… would have saved him if Saddler hadn’t intervened. The only tie back that Damon had to his father was the red ball.   
The first time he had lay eyes on his father was when Chen had led Catalina and her son to the chamber Ramon was held in against company regulations, of course. Damon was confused but it was just a shock value. No… it isn’t association of to a terrorist. It was his father’s physical appearance that threw Damon off. Chen was certain of it. But he said nothing.   
Damon took Chen’s hand reluctantly, but when his fingers wrapped around Chen’s hand, he felt the warmth of that hand and wanted to cling to it, but some sort of dignity held him back. He looked up into those dark almond eyes.  
“I will tell you what happened.” Chen said finally, conceding to himself to tell the lie… for if he didn’t he would be killed and so would Damon. If he can do one last thing for Catalina and Ramon it is to make sure their son stays alive even if it means he has to fabricate everything. Now what Umbrella does to him, turns him into, it is out of his hands, but he will try with all his might to keep Damon as sound as possible. But anyone who worked on this level with this company had to know better that hold to hope.   
Things here are better left to force. Hope doesn’t reside here.


End file.
